VIDEO: Spoof African Charity Song Goes Viral

A SPOOF music video appealing for Africans to donate radiators to freezing children in Norway, has become an internet hit.

The hilarious parody of the 1985 US charity song We are the World, which now has over one million views on Youtube, is the brainchild of the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund and was made to ‘challenge stereotypes about Africa’.

The single, comically entitled Radi-aid, contains the lyrics: "In Norway kids are freezing, it's time for us to care.”

"There's heat enough for Norway, if Africans would share. Yes Africans keep thinking we can contribute. The warmth we've got we'd like to share but we can't distribute.”

On the group’s website they wrote: “Imagine if every person in Africa saw the “Africa for Norway” video and this was the only information they ever got about Norway. What would they think about Norway?”

“If we say Africa, what do you think about? Hunger, poverty, crime or AIDS? No wonder, because in fundraising campaigns and media that’s mainly what you hear about.”

“The pictures we usually see in fundraisers are of poor African children. Hunger and poverty is ugly, and it calls for action. But while these images can engage people in the short term, we are concerned that many people simply give up because it seems like nothing is getting better. Africa should not just be something that people either give to, or give up on.”

“The truth is that there are many positive developments in African countries, and we want these to become known.”